Chief Commissioner's Blog | Bringing Scouting4all to life

It’s not often we talk about Annual General Meetings as providing an exciting buzz, but that’s how the Association’s AGM and Council in Conference turned out on Saturday!

Celebrating a great year

I’ve had an amazing eight days; the buzz and excitement of Gilwell Reunion continued into last weekend with our Annual General Meeting and Council in Conference where we expanded on our Strategy with the help of three great projects. This reminded us all of the practical challenges involved and the rewards that success brings.

Saturday evening and Sunday saw us concluding our interviews for the UK Youth Commissioner. It has been such a challenging task to choose from 105 great applications; the selection panel (75% of whom are under 25 themselves) have done a great job.

Although internet connectivity at BP House didn’t allow us to stream the proceedings (it will next year) we filmed the day’s events and will share this shortly in various formats.

Reminding ourselves why

The young people and leaders of 1st Billesley got the afternoon off to a great start with their 21-year-old GSL, Lew Hitchin, who told the story of how Scouting was introduced to Billesley by overcoming hurdles such as the cost, uniform and ‘local politics’. The young people involved in the Group, including Owen, Rhiannon and Logan, told us what a difference it was making to them and the leaders told us how they greatly benefitted too.

The enthusiasm of the Merseyside youth engagement team quickly made it clear why the County was at the forefront of youth-shaped Scouting. They shared their successes and challenges from helping leaders to understand their role engaging with civic leaders.

The District team of Brunel District, led by DC, Amir Cheema, outlined their development plans, which encompassed all the elements of our strategic plan. They have been doing fantastic work but reminded us of the practical challenges at the sharp end of changing lives.

With Matt and I also talking about the work being carried out nationally by volunteers and staff, we were able to truly bring Scouting4All to life throughout the day.

Over the weekend we were also able to launch our two latest videos for local use. The opening film to the AGM truly encompasses the spirit of Scouting, while our afternoon film showed what being part of Scouts means to one young member.